It used to be the best professionone can have when in America.Thousandsof our kababayans became very rich and well established in America as a resultof working as nurses in the United States.They were able to bring in their families, many of whom became UScitizens and have since then lived the American Dream.

Yet a number of them also becamegreedy to the point of abusing US-based privileges and benefits, to the point ofviolating laws. They were not contentedwith what they already acquired; they craved for more.Thatis the sad state of our culture as Filipinos.Magagaling ang Pinoy.Masisipag.Very diligent and flexiblepa.Yet they also easily get enticed togreed and easy money.Bigyan mo ngtulong, later ikaw na ang pagtutulungan ng kalokohan.Hindinaman lahat, but a number of them do this.And the reason Pinoys are getting noticed for such unscrupulouspractices is because these practices are being imitated by other Pinoys.Dumadami kasi marami ring gumagaya, patikalokohan.Abusado na nga, ginagaya pa.

No wonderour country is always beset by scams.You pick up the newspaper and you notice that90% of the news is about scams, corruption and crimes.

Bakit kaya ganoon tayo?Iyan ang tanong.Abuses dito, abuses doon.Abuses all over.Instead of being contented with what we haveand counting the blessings God has provided us, we resort to countingproblems to become materialistic and greedy.We forget that everything in this world isjust temporary, that there is Judgment Day and that, in the end, we all have toface the reckoning with the Lord.

In the United States, a number ofour Pinoy kababayans get convicted ofmedicalinsurance frauds, Medicare fraud, marriage scams, nursing home abuses ofbenefits, recruitment scams, and nursing care crimes.Most of these Pinoys were already wellestablished with their families in the USA; most had acquired considerablewealth.Yet they were not contented with the blessings they had; they wantedmore and resort to crimes in their materialistic greed for more.

Recently a wealthy and well-establishedFil-Am lawyer, the son of a Filipino congressman, pleaded guilty in a Chicago courtfor having committed marriage scams. He had to plead guilty so he can get alesser sentence (5 years in jail) instead of spending more than 20 years injail for lawyering marriage scams.Hewas not contented practicing his law profession within the confines of the lawand earning 6-digit annual salary as a lawyer.He wanted more.In the end, his greedhas landed him in jail.Aside from gettingjailed, he lost his lawyer’s license to practice, considering he committed afederal offense.

Nakakahiya that he’s ourkababayan.Ang kawawa na naman ay ang ibangmga kababayan natin, our honest countrymen, who have to suffer out of the scamscommitted by the few.

We continue to hear thesePinoy-motivated scams in the USA.A weekago, one of our kababayans, a well-established and affluent Fil-Am, was broughtback to the USA after hiding in the Philippines for sometime.This person was behind the multi-milliondollar Medicare fraud in the USA.

It is a pity to note that some ofour kababayans, despite the achievements and wealth they acquire, continue tocrave for more that in the end they have to resort to committing scams just tosatisfy their cravings.Greed begetsgreed—and as a result it is greed that also brings one down.

That is why pahigpit na pahigpit ngayonang dinadanas ng Pinoy when applying for a US visa. Anybody caught working in the USA without awork permit will be jailed.Upon releasefrom jail, he or she will immediately be deported.There is no more consideration for a hearingin court.It is automatic deportationwhen caught—and that deportation is within one week after one gets caught.In fact, if one get detained, he or she willno longer be released until deported.

It was not surprising that theUnited States recently reduced further the quota for foreign nurses.For sometime now, US citizens have beenencouraged to avail of scholarships for nurses.There has already been an increasing number of American students takingup nursing courses.More and morenursing graduates are produced by American schools nowadays.The US government has now a huge budget outlayfor educational scholarships and grants for US citizens who wish to take upnursing courses.Many high schoolgraduates in America are already accepting the challege to become nurses.

Twenty years ago, not manyAmerican high school graduates would want to enroll in nursing courses.Today, that trend has been reversed.As more nursing graduates are being producedin the USA, less and less recruitment of foreign nurses is being done. The quota for Pinoy nurses has been cut.

This trend indicates that chancesfor Pinoy nurses to be able to immigrate and work as nurses in the UnitedStates are getting slimmer.The dream tolive the American Dream is now becoming a nightmare to aspire for.

So how come the Japanese are notrequired to havevisas to work or visitthe United States?Note that the Japs werethe arch enemy of the USA during World War II, while the Philippines has been aUS ally for more than a century now and had fought side by side with the USAduring World War II, in the Korean War, in the Vietnam War, and in otherpursuits spearheaded by the United States.

Bakit ang mga Pinoynangangailangan ng visa if they vist, work or study in the USA?And yet the Japs are not required such.Di ba double standards?

But there is a valid andlegitamate reason why the USA is imposing these restrictions to the Filipinos.It shows that the United States recognizesthe fact that, even among friends, there is a tendency to abuse.Pinoys, as shown by all the evidences of violationsand scams being committed all these years of friendship with America, haveproven that they have the tendency to abuse such friendship.Kasi karamihan sa Japs ay disiplinado; tayohindi.Japs don’t abuse privileges andtheir word is their honor.Marami saatin kasi ay hindi marunong sumunod ng kasunduan.Marami magagaling lang sa gaya-gaya putomaya.Pag nag TNT si ito, gagayahin rinni kurdapya at ni kurdapyo.Kaya hayon,sirang sira ang reputasyon ng Pinoy.Pati pagiging TNT ay ginagaya pa.

Pinoys are good workers andhospitable people, but they tend to abuse once they are given certainprivileges and authority.And they arethe best imitators.Even if these abusesare committed by a few,such abuses andviolations affect the many and the future of those who have the sincerestintentions because they get imitated by other Pinoys.And once these abuses are imitated by otherPinoys, then they become a conflagration.Abusado na nga, gagayahin pa.

It is said indeed to hear aboutthis grim plight Pinoy nurses in the United States.

But wait...

There may also be a positive sideof it all.

Today, the Philippines can alreadylook forward to having more nurses in its surroundings.

With more nurses in thePhilippines, baka naman by getting better cared for by all these nurseswillbe the answer to less scams andless crimes.Kasi kung mas healthy angbayan, di kaya less ang corruption?

That is one positive side that issurely worth seeing.

Let’s then look forward to ahealthier Philippines as more nurses are now staying in Pinas for good-- andperhaps we can all have a Philippines that has less corruption, less crimes,and less abuses.